FCBARCELONA.CAT

26.02.2010 11:50

Youngsters join Málaga preparations

Marc Guillén / Vanessa Forns

Pep Guardiola called up four youngsters to continue their learning curve by training with the first-team on Friday morning as the squad prepared for the visit of Málaga at the weekend.

The Blaugrana boss added Carlos Planas and Albert Dalmau from the juvenile A side and Oriol Romeo and Ilie Sánchez from Barça Atlètic to add to the 19 regulars for the session. As is the norm the day before a game Barça trained behind closed doors at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper.

Alves bouncing back

Along with the 18 players that he has had at his disposal for the past few days Guardiola was again pleased to see Dani Alves working hard on his recovery after he has been out of action since suffering a knock on February 6 against Getafe. The Brazilian defender trained at the same level as the rest of the players but has yet to be given the green light to return to playing.

Keita and Abidal

The only absentees from the first team squad were Seydou Keita and Éric Abidal. The duo are both still injured and remained in the complex building in order to continue working on their recovery programmes.